Touchback by Don Handfield

When Scott Murphy scored the winning touchdown in the 1991 state championship game, it should have launched a golden future—the full scholarship to Ohio State, the million-dollar signing bonus, marriage to the beauty queen, and NFL glory.

Instead, it all ended with a sickening pop as his leg shattered in four places. The next twenty years would be a study in Murphy’s Law—whatever could go wrong did. Just when things seem at their worst—he's losing his farm, his relationship with his wife is crumbling—a miracle happens: Murphy gets a chance to reboot his life.

Back in his teenaged body in 1991, he realizes by changing his past, he can have the future he always wanted. Everything he lost is within his reach, even his high-school sweetheart.

But what about the devoted wife he left behind? Torn between two women—two lives—he can only choose one future. Murphy must decide if getting everything he’s ever wanted is worth giving up everything he’s ever had…

Unrated Critic Reviews for Touchback

Kirkus Reviews

Both Murphy and the reader know how the story has to end, however, so it’s a testament to Handfield’s character development and overall narrative conditioning that he keeps each player in the game until that final, fateful down.